US military in Gulf, a target not a threat – Iran senior commander

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, Amirali Hajizadeh, warned on Sunday that the U.S military presence in the Persian Gulf used to be a serious threat, but now represents a target, Iranian Students’ News Agency reported.

Amirali Hajizadeh, Iran’s head of the Guards’ aerospace division, said carriers like the Lincoln were ‘a serious threat in the past, but is now a target’

‘If (the Americans) make a move, we will hit them in the head,’ he said, according to ISNA.

According to Reuters, the U.S. military has deployed forces, including an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers, to the Middle East in a move U.S. officials said was to counter “clear indications” of threats from Iran to American forces in the region.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier (pictured)

The USS Abraham Lincoln is replacing another carrier rotated out of the Gulf last month.

“An aircraft carrier that has at least 40 to 50 planes on it and 6,000 forces gathered within it was a serious threat for us in the past but now it is a target and the threats have switched to opportunities,” said Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Guards’ aerospace division.

During an interview with CNBC, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said the U.S. deployments was in response to intelligence about potential attacks from Iranian and aimed both to deter them and to be able to respond if necessary.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

“We’ve seen this reporting,” Pompeo said. “It’s real. It appears to be something that is current, that is things we’re worried about today.”

“In the event that Iran decided to come after an American interest – whether that be in Iraq or Afghanistan or Yemen or any place in the Middle East – we are prepared to respond in an appropriate way,” he said, adding that “our aim is not war.”

Iranian navy commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi said on Sunday that American forces must exit, according to ISNA. “The presence of the Americans in the Persian Gulf region has reached its end and they must leave the region,” Khanzadi said.